FIG. 1 depicts top and side views of a portion of a conventional energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) transducer 10. For clarity, FIG. 1 is not to scale. The conventional EAMR transducer 10 is used in writing a recording media (not shown in FIG. 1) and receives light, or energy, from a conventional laser (not shown in FIG. 1). The conventional EAMR transducer 10 includes grating 32, a conventional waveguide 12 including a core 13 and cladding 11, conventional pole 30, and near-field transducer (NFT) 40. The conventional EAMR transducer 10 is shown with a laser spot 14 that is guided by the conventional waveguide 12 to the NFT 40 near the air-bearing surface (ABS). The NFT 40 focuses the light to magnetic recording media (not shown), such as a disk. Other components that may be part of the conventional EAMR transducer 10 are not shown.
In operation, light from the spot 14 is coupled to the conventional EAMR transducer 10 using the grating 32. The waveguide 12, which is shown as including a planar solid immersion mirror, cladding 11, and core 13; directs light from the gratings 32A and 32B to the NFT 40. In other conventional EAMR transducers, the conventional waveguide 12 could take other forms. The direction of travel of the light as directed by the conventional waveguide 12 can be seen by the arrows 18 and 20. The NFT 40 focuses the light from the waveguide 12 and heats a small region of the conventional media (not shown). The conventional EAMR transducer 10 magnetically writes data to the heated region of the recording media by energizing the conventional pole 30.
Although the conventional EAMR transducer 10 may function, there are drawbacks. The trend in magnetic recording continues to higher recording densities. As a result, fabrication of magnetic and optical portions of the conventional transducer 10 may become increasingly complicated. Such complexity in processing is generally undesirable. Further, as the density increases, the size of the transitions being written decreases. The conventional EAMR transducer 10 may inadvertently overwrite transitions. Such inadvertent overwrites are generally undesirable.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving performance and fabrication of an EAMR transducer.